THINKING ABOUT THIS RANDONNEURING THING

Looking for things to do as tandem riders I came across this randonneuring thing. Randonneuring is ”long-distance unsupported endurance cycling. This style of riding is non-competitive in nature, and self-sufficiency is paramount. When riders participate in randonneuring events, they are part of a long tradition that goes back to the beginning of the sport of cycling in France and Italy. Friendly camaraderie, not competition, is the hallmark of randonneuring”. It sounded fun. So, upon doing a little more investigating, we decided to create our own little 100K (approx. 66 miles) route just to see if we could do it. God forbid we should make fools of ourselves in front of seasoned randonnuers.

On a nice, somewhat sunny-ish and warmish Martin Luther King Jr Day, we took off on our exploratory randonneuring run. The route took us from our doorstep in Manchester, through Bolton and Coventry, onto the Airline Trail South rail trail in Willimantic to Colchester, continuing along the trail to East Hampton, Portland, up through Glastonbury, and back to Manchester with the idea of making three stops at coffee shops for breaks.

The typical idea for that distance is to complete the run in about 6 hours (average about 10 mph), including any breaks. Needless to say, the course proved much more challenging than anticipated. We left at about 9:00 in the morning and did not arrive home until about 7:00 in the evening, much to our dismay. Okay, maybe we are not quite ready for this randonneuring thing, yet, but we have not given up on the idea.

THE FIRST TRUE TEST

Based on our previous riding success, we decided to move to the next level and plan our first overnight ride on the tandem, which occurred over the weekend of Nov 1-2, 2014. Since we handled about 45 miles with no problems, a 50 mile ride each way to Norfolk, CT to stay overnight at the Manor House Inn B&B should also be no problem. Had we put some thought into elevation gain, we would have realized, that yes, problem! Riding around the coastal regions of Connecticut and Rhode Island is vastly different than riding into the hills of northwest Connecticut.

The ride started great, although a bit gloomy, with some wet weather to come.

We stopped for a hardy breakfast at the Town & Country Restaurant in Bloomfield and a brief stop at the Bloomfield Bicycle & Repair Shop for some additional gear.

Heading up and over Talcott Mountain (which is only about a 250 foot climb in a mile) the rain began to fall. It pretty much did not stop for the rest of the day.

We slogged on through the day, proceeding to get lost along they way (missed a turn somewhere) adding another five miles to our ride and hills, so many hills. We persevered (which included some walking) arriving at the Manor House Inn just before dark after nearly seven hours of riding (what happened to that 45 mile ride in under four hours?? It must have been that over 3,500 feet of climbing we had to do). The B&B more than made up for the effort and we had a lovely stay.

The ride home occurred on a bright, sunny day, although the temperature had dropped to the high 30's and it was windy.

We took a different route home to take in some other sites, and came across this restaurant in a renovated train station in Collinsville, CT., so we stopped for lunch (and to warm up).

We arrived home none-the-less for wear, and while the journey was definitely more challenging than anticipated to both body and spirit, we realized that yes, we can do this. Test, passed!

CAN WE DO THIS?

The first excursion on the tandem of any mention-able length took place over Columbus Day Weekend 2014. We loaded the bike on top of the car and took it with us to Noank, CT where we keep our 26' Pearson sailboat. We only stayed overnight on the boat that weekend and chose to spend time riding around on the tandem a bit. We headed into Mystic, then into Stonington along back roads, into Westerly, RI, onto Misquamicut, over to Watch Hill, back through Westerly, down into Stonington Borough, back through Mystic, returning to Noank. All felt great. Oblivious as we were at the time, we ended up riding about 45 miles in under 4 hours. Heck yeah, we can do this! Or so we thought….

Route of our first long ride.